Childfree as a Social Phenomenon: Russians' Attitude to Voluntary Childlessness

Liliya Maratovna Salyakhieva,Zhanna Vladimirovna Saveleva

doi:10.7596/taksad.v6i4.1144

Abstract

This paper investigates the childfree phenomenon in the context of Russian society. The late modernism dramatically affects the structure of society and traditional social values. This applies to the social institution of the family and the social norm of parenthood. These social changes can be considered, on the one hand, from the position of hyperliberalization and autonomy of the individual, and, on the other, as a manifestation of the institutional crisis of the family. The latter point of view is more typical of the Russian sociological tradition. The paper deals with the study of the main reasons for the appearance and spread of the phenomenon and the classification of childfree. Based on the results of a questionnaire survey conducted by the authors, the paper provides data on the relative potential possibility for the distribution of childfree ideas in Russia. The survey results show that about half of Russians have heard about childfree. 40% of Russians give negative evaluation to childfree, about half of Russians are neutral to people who have voluntarily refused to parenthood. The data correlate with the studies of public opinion poll centers, according to which about half of the respondents express their loyal and neutral attitude. More than half of surveyors see a potential threat in the childfree movement for Russian society, noting at the same time (45%) that the phenomenon is not widespread in Russia. The authors see the prospects for research in the study of the relationship of age groups and the degree of loyalty to childfree.

Highlights

Amid the “Runaway World” of late modernism, the society represents an extremely volatile, dynamic system with many social norms blurred, such as family, marriage, parenthood and maternity (Giddens, 2003)
The state of the institution of the family in Russian sociological science is often characterized from the standpoint of an institutional crisis, which is explained by the social changes in the traditional nuclear family, the partial loss of meaningful functions, their transition to other social institutions, for example, education (Antonov, 2014)
One should take into account the fact that recently there has been rise in the number of the supporters of the idea, as evidenced, for example, by one and a half times increase in the number of social groups on the Internet in the last year, and the activity of users in adopting and disseminating the ideas of childfree is much higher than that of the groups and institutions aimed at promotion of traditional family values

Summary

Introduction

Amid the “Runaway World” of late modernism, the society represents an extremely volatile, dynamic system with many social norms blurred, such as family, marriage, parenthood and maternity (Giddens, 2003). Sociological studies have recorded a stably high position of the family, children in the hierarchy of values of Russians and the deep rootedness of parenthood and maternity as social norms, which raises the question of the semantic interpretations, the degree of loyalty to this idea and the possibilities of distribution of childfree in Russia. One should take into account the fact that recently there has been rise in the number of the supporters of the idea, as evidenced, for example, by one and a half times increase in the number of social groups on the Internet in the last year, and the activity of users in adopting and disseminating the ideas of childfree is much higher than that of the groups and institutions aimed at promotion of traditional family values

Results

Discussion

Conclusion